See, our business isn’t about selling PCs, or selling iPods or iPhones. What we’re actually selling is a management system for digital assets — music, movies, books. In fact, what we’re really selling is convenience. And according to Tim Bajarin, no one can stop us.

That’s right, Tim Bajarin, one of the best and brightest IT consultants out there, now says that, “Apple is perhaps the most influential company in the personal computer and CE market. And this is driving its competitors crazy.” Tim also points out that we’re not actually in the PC or CE business. We’re doing “digital asset management,” and we’ve got credit cards from 100 million people on file. That’s right — 100 million paying customers, who can buy with a simple click of a button, which makes us a very attractive platform for third-party developers. While everyone else is making devices, we’re providing a holistic solution. Money quote:

It’s no wonder that people are flocking to Apple stores and buying Apple’s new PC and mobile devices in increasing numbers. In the end, while consumers may like Apple’s hardware, what they’re really buying is Apple’s simple way of managing, aggregating, protecting, discovering, distributing and slinging digital content around their PC and device networks.

At the moment I don’t get the sense that other PC and CE guys really understand what Apple has become. While they have been fighting wars on form, function and prices, Apple has boldly transformed itself from a mild and not-so-meek PC company into the most powerful digital-asset-management company on the planet. And for the time being, it is unstoppable.

Tim’s right, of course. Look at Sony, or Microsoft, or Google, or anyone. They still don’t get it. They’re still out there talking about chips, or features, or whatever. Or now they’re all hot for design. But they think design means making pretty objects. It doesn’t. It means making a system of pieces that all work together seamlessly. It’s not about calling attention to the technology. It’s about making the technology invisible. That’s design. Sometimes we all sit here looking at the other guys and kind of scratching our heads at how clueless they are. I mean it’s kind of amazing, isn’t it?